Sapp is lucky to be alive

Former Bishop Moore catcher Max Sapp, now a minor-leaguer in the Houston Astros organization, will remain hospitalized for at least the next few days as he recovers from sinus surgery and viral meningitis, a release from his agent said Tuesday.

Sapp has been hospitalized since Dec. 11 after an apparent seizure following a workout, Vision Sports Management said. After testing, he was diagnosed with meningitis and chronic sinus disease.

Doctors determined the sinus condition made Sapp, 20, more susceptible to viral meningitis, the release said. He was treated with antibiotics, and sinus surgery was performed Dec. 14.

After that, the release said, Sapp was on a respirator for more than two weeks after he stopped breathing three times. Doctors determined Sapp's sinus condition likely can be traced to August 2007, when sinus headaches and constant congestion began disrupting his sleep and causing fatigue, the release said.

"The doctors said had it not been for his age and excellent physical condition, he probably would not have survived," Sapp's mother, Missy, said in the release. "It was frightening to watch that happen to my son."

Doctors expect a full recovery, and most of the memory loss that he suffered has been remedied, the release said.

"I just want to get ready as fast as possible and get to Kissimmee [site of the Astros' spring training] and get my season going," Sapp, who hit .200 in Class A last season, said in the release. "I haven't felt right for a year or so, and I'm looking forward to being completely healthy so I can have a great year."

Sapp, the Sentinel's 2006 Central Florida high school baseball player of the year, was drafted in the first round that year by the Astros.

According to the National Meningitis Association, nearly 3,000 cases of meningitis -- swelling of tissues covering the brain and spinal cord -- are diagnosed in the United States annually. About 10-12 percent of those are fatal. Bacterial meningitis is considered more serious, long term, than viral meningitis.